Rental Central

A mixed bag of releases featured nothing for the kids and a few surprises for mature viewers who want something with an edge to it.

CHAPPIE – The ads made this look like a cute robot movie but it is much better than that. This is a serious look at what happens when a robot is given free will . The setting is a repressed South Africa in the not too distant future. While there are some humorous scenes they are intertwined with stark portraits of cruelty and suffering. Good stuff but not always a fun time.

RUN ALL NIGHT – Liam Neeson and Ed Harris star in this gritty crime drama. Harris is a mob boss and Neeson is his loyal hit man, The Gravedigger. When a deal with Albanian drug dealers goes south the men are pitted against each other . There is no backing down either as the sons of both men complicate matters. Good and realistic material that makes the “Taken” series look like a joyride.

UNFINISHED BUSINESS – Vince Vaughn stars as a small business owner who journeys to Europe to desperately save his struggling enterprise. Once there everything goes wrong in a “Hangover’ kind of way . Crude humor ensues as he becomes mixed up with a sex Fetish Event and a Global Economic Summit. A few laughs but not in the league of the crude comedies it strives to emulate.

NEWSROOM Season 3 -Aaron Sorkin closes out his HBO series about 24 hour news channels with six tightly plotted episodes. Some of his best writing too as he skewers how Television covers issues and dumbs them down for an audience they assume are morons. Jeff Daniels is marvelous in the lead role of a star anchor. Unfortunately season 2 got so bogged down in relationship drama that many missed this six hour finale that ends the show and closes out the storylines. Worth a watch.